A characterisation of the magnetically induced movement of NdFeB-particles in magnetorheological elastomers

• Published in: Smart materials and structures 2017-09, Vol.26 (9), p.95018
• Main Authors: Schümann, M, Borin, D Y, Huang, S, Auernhammer, G K, Müller, R, Odenbach, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: magnetorheological elastomers; NdFeB; particle tracking; tomography
• ISSN: 0964-1726; 1361-665X
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-665X/aa788a

Magnetorheological elastomers are a type of smart hybrid material where elastic properties of a soft elastomer matrix are combined with magnetic properties of magnetic micro particles. This combination leads to a complex interplay of magnetic and elastic phenomena, of which the magnetorheological effect is the best described. In this paper, magnetically hard NdFeB-particles were used to obtain remanent magnetic properties. X-ray microtomography has been utilised to analyse the particle movement induced by magnetic fields. A particle tracking was performed; thus, it was possible to characterise the movement of individual particles. Beyond that, a comprehensive analysis of the orientation of all particles was performed at different states of magnetisation and global particle arrangements. For the first time, this method was successfully applied to a magnetorheological material with a technically relevant amount of magnetic NdFeB-particles. A significant impact of the magnetic field on the rotation and translation of the particles was shown.